Tsui, Anthony S. C.Anthony S. C.TsuiDr. LEE Bernard2019-02-152019-02-152018Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management, Dec. 2018, vol. 25(4), p. 79-114.1598-6284http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11861/5544http://www.jitam.or.kr/jitam/bbs/board.php?bo_table=board&wr_id=837&page=2Online AccessAlthough former scholarly studies mostly focus on exploring leadership effectiveness under the traditional hierarchical leader-subordinate relationship, the research of leadership performance for non-hierarchical organizational structures, particularly the mediating factors of higher-order goals, trust-in-leader, and self-efficacy have been ignored. This study, therefore, makes an attempt to ascertain the impacts of transformational leadership on the performance of subordinates through the mediating effects of higher-order goals, trust-in-leader, and self-efficacy and the differences of these effects in the context of multi-level marketing (MLM). Like the small-sample studies adopted by Barling, Weber, and Kelloway [1996], Barling, Slater, and Kelloway [2000] and Bass, Avolio, Jung, and Berson [2003], this study adopts a sample of 123 MLM distributors of an MLM company in Hong Kong, with a high response rate of 80.4%. The results indicate that the mediating effect of self-efficacy between transformational leadership and performance is significant under non-hierarchical organizational structures such as MLM in China.enPeer Reviewed Journal Article10.21219/jitam.2018.25.4.079